Reviewer Karen Dahood :
Karen lives in Tucson, AZ. After 35 years as a writer for businesses
and nonprofits, she has turned to writing mysteries,the subtext of
which addresses ageism, unpreparedness for aging, and America's
wealth of experience and wisdom. Learn more about eldersleuth Sophie
George at the Website Moxie
Cosmos; Making Sense of Life Through Writing.

By Karen Dahood

Published on September 24, 2012

Author: Robert Hookey

ISBN-10:1466334681

ISBN-13:978-1466334687

ISBN: 978-1-62345-013-7
(eBook)

Author: Robert Hookey

ISBN-10:1466334681

ISBN-13:978-1466334687

ISBN: 978-1-62345-013-7
(eBook)

This Canadian bellman
doesn’t take himself too seriously – most of the time. He
apologizes right off for what he calls “entertainment and rant.”
I’d say it’s more of the former, though he does go on. Remember
when we used to look forward to the inspiring anecdotes and family
friendly jokes in Reader’s Digest? This book fits in somewhere
between that sensibility and a long night with a stand-up comic. I’d
say: pack this book in your suitcase for when you have time to kill
at a hotel. You can tuck in a few pages while you are waiting in line
at the check-in counter, waiting for the elevator, or – heaven
forfend – waiting for the bellhop. If you are a bell-person
yourself, and that seems unlikely, you will probably find it
life-affirming, but if you are someone who has not seen a bellhop
since you were a kid – most went out of existence along with
porters at train stations – you will be left wondering: Where does
he work?

He works in Canada where
things are a little more European. Also, there’s a great legacy of
humor north of the border. Stephen Leacock was once the best known
humorist in the English-speaking world and Canada’s equivalent to
Robert Benchley in the U.S. That was almost a hundred years ago. So
be warned: This book has no plot. It is a compilation of strange and
amusing encounters as recalled by “The Hook” at his work, mostly
having to do with demanding or inconsiderate guests. For example, he
resents those who ask to borrow what he calls a “bell cart”
(translation: luggage cart) at what is a “full service” hotel.
Imagine! Some are so unsophisticated as to call it a “pushcart”
or “trolley,” or even “thingy.” Nor does he have much
patience for children (except his own darling Sarah, of whom we hear
snippets). Most of all, he hates skinflints. Readers who are bellmen
will recognize his pain, and we can sympathize, but not when he comes
close to profiling the unusual man who tipped as one “whose ethnic
background precludes … generosity.”

When
Hookey does get serious it is to give advice on the importance of
being a decent person, and not a d-----b-g. This nasty slang word
which gained currency in the 1960s to describe an obnoxious, socially
inept, pathetic male – but originates in the purist female privacy
– spoiled the entire book for me. After seeing it in a dozen places
I decided to search and count: There are 17 pages of citations, each
page with three examples (and a few more in the same sentences).
That’s 51 and upward. But now I am ranting. On the bright side,
Hookey is a good writer, and seems to be a great husband and father;
and he did have a few nice things happen to him because he has such a
splendid, forgiving sense of humor.